ST Episode IX Story Discussion

• Kylo Ren : Do you know the truth about your parents? Or have you always known? You've just hidden it away. Say it.
  
  Rey : [in tears] They were nobody.
  
  Kylo Ren : They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You come from nothing. You're nothing. But not to me.
  

 

Mind trick?

 

I guess we'll have the definitive answer to this question on the 20th of December.

(I totally agree with your signature, by the way)

 

Can’t wait. Disney’s gonna slay the BO again this year with Captain Marvel, Avengers, and SW IX.

 

Weirdest pick up line ever.

 

Incels gonna incel.

 

I would be surprised if Anakin isn't in 9. Disney hasn't shied away from using PT elements. TLJ has many PT references.

 

At this stage, I think Rey Skywalker is definitively out. No way Luke would give his own daughter the Yoda treatment in that situation.

Our best bet to avoid Rey Random at this stage is if she was "born of the force" a la Anakin (and/or if Snoke/Plagueis created her).

 

And Toy Story 4.

 

Why are we hoping to avoid Rey Random?
Every character is a Random when you first meet them. Qui-Gon Random. Mace Random. Han Random, Lando Random, Jyn Random, Cassian Random, Wicket W. Random. They become significant by the actions they take and the roles they play in the story.

Anakin, and then by extension Luke, Leia, and Ben are the only characters with a special status within the universe, due to the special circumstances of Anakin’s birth. Saying Rey needs that special status to be a legitimate character is ignoring the entire point of TLJ, and saying the main hero of a Star Wars film needs that special status is doubly ignoring that message.

 

Fair comments. I don't disagree.

 

Sorry for the back to back posts mods...

The more I think about the potential story, the more I fail to believe that this is just going to be a good guys chasing the bad guys then killing their boss (Ren) flick. The writers have spent so much time on Ren's conflict that I have a hard time thinking that it is all for nothing. And if this does end up as a Kylo redemption story (even if he dies at the end), there needs to be a worthy antagonist.

 

Every encounter between Rey and Kylo ends in a tie forced upon them by an unlikely plot device. The ground splitting apart between them, an explosive lightsaber.

So, next encounter, someone's gotta win. Someone's gotta fall.

I'll put 10 bucks on Kylo.

 

I’ve also got ten bucks that says Kylo will win or fall.

Seriously though I think Rey might lose the physical fight but then Kylo will turn to the light.

 

If I was script consultant, I'd advise we need to get the characters motives clear, and these should relate to their pasts.

So, Finn could be doing a couple of things: either returning to his home world or trying to rally his storm trooper friends to his side. Either of these has the chance to create some emotional beats distinct from his chasing after Rey, the purpose of which is ambiguous.

Then with Rey what's needed is some kind of clarity about her parentage. No more mystery. Like maybe when she's meditating we have a montage that helps to set her motive for being good up. We see her parents mistreating her, Unkar Plutt mistreating her, and we understand why she wanted to be different.

Once we settle her background, then her desires in the present will make more sense. If she wants a family, make it clear this is what she gets from the Jedi/Resistance. If she wants to be different from her parents, make it clear this is why she wants to be a hero/Jedi.

Kylo. Flashbacks are needed here too. Why did he go dark? What is he after exactly? Maybe begin by showing him still unsatisfied after conquering the galaxy. This leads to us seeing what this has all been about, and we learn with him if anything can really be satisfied in him through the darkside.

E9 can possible salvage this trilogy, but we need to return to the characters roots, and this should be a key theme.

 

I will roll my eyes so much if we get more Rey parent drama in IX. Force Awakens told us the parents she was waiting for were never coming back and the belonging she was searching for lay ahead of her (Resistance/Jedi) not behind. Last Jedi told us who her parents were and that, deep down, she'd always known. What more needs to be said? Let her move forward rather than keep looking back.

More back story for Kylo, I agree is needed. To see what it was that "turned his heart". But how much is needed compared with just what we'd like to see/know? I'd jump at the chance to read a novel telling the full story or watch a Disney+ series if they can get Driver and Hamill back for it. But in terms of the ST, we already have the broad strokes from TFA and TLJ and I'm sure we'll get a bit more in IX through exposition or flashback (and if that gives us a chance to see the OT gang together and happy then so much the better), but beyond learning how Snoke corrupted him before that fateful night, what more do we need? I think it's more important to move forwards than look back.

 

I will roll my eyes if we do not get more Rey parents drama.

 

Fair enough, I just feel that story line is played out at this point. It's almost like a bit of marketing mystery went too far.

 

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that quite some fans see the last installment as a combination of pranks that went too far - so I hope IX fixes a lot of them. Rey's backstory is one of them.

 

What do you guys think about the antagonist being someone new ? There's this rumor that the antagonist will be something from " the beyond" forcing Rey and Ren teaming up.

 

Well they need to do something since the First Order seems to have total control of the galaxy and the Resistance last we saw all fit inside the Falcon. And this is supposed to be only a year later. My thought has been they need a reason for the First Order to split into two and have a civil war among themselves. To me the most logical sense would be for a Admiral Thawn type that could challenge Kylo. In the book Thawn, they talk about how the Empire top military brass was convinced the Emperor was going to kill himself in Sith ritual therefore they needed a plan to have the military takeover when that happens. It be easily for someone in the FO to say, "Enough is enough" after Kylo kills Snoke. But there isn't doesn't seem anyone to do that so it would have to be from someone beyond. The rumor that it's the KoR returning after being in the unknown regions for "x amount of time" could work.

But regardless they have to do something. Unless they just want to have 500 Rebel/Resistence capital ships firing on 500 Empire/First Order capital ships to open the movie just because with no explaination given. Which frankly I am fully preparing myself and expecting therefore I just hope Episode IX is a good popcorn flick.

 

I've been beating the drum that Kylo Ren will be the big bad for much of Ep. IX but I have to admit that these rumors of a new threat from the beyond are making me rethink things. Is the threat from the beyond a threat to both the Resistance and the FO? Is the new threat a partner of the FO? Making Star Wars has speculated that the KoR could be that threat. They've been rumored to be returning from the beyond. I don't know how on board I'm with that idea. I think it's more likely that the KoR are the ones that come back from the beyond and tell Kylo about the new threat.

 

I feel like this right here is a perfect example of why 100% Rey needs more backstory. Your paragraph about Kylo is longer, with an emphasis on needing details. For Rey?

I get that you only mean about her past, but regardless, that's not a sentence that should be able to be said about our protagonist. Any character with an emotional arc is going to be influenced by their past in some way or another. The last thing we need in IX is even more Kylo flashbacks that have nothing to do with our star. Either this is Rey's story in name only, or they actually tell a story about Rey.

 

Considering that JJ usually films his movies in sequential order then his tweet today suggests that the movie does end on Tatooine or Jakku. What would bring them all back to one of those planets?